1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to inductive amplifier units and more particularly to probe tips for use with inductive amplifier units.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mislabeled or unlabeled circuits are a common problem encountered by operators of copper cable networks. When a circuit is unlabeled or mislabeled, it is difficult for a technician to determine the path of the conductors of the circuit and/or the termination points of the circuit because portions of the circuit may be obscured from the view of the technician. Thus, in some circumstances, the conductors cannot simply be visually traced to determine their termination points. Further, even if it is possible to visually trace the conductors of a circuit, doing so may be a time consuming and expensive endeavor.
To overcome these issues, a tone generator is typically used to transmit a tone through the unlabeled or mislabeled circuit. The tone generated by the tone generator is detectable by an inductive amplifier unit, which indicates to the technician when the tone is detected. For example, the inductive amplifier unit may include a light source that lights up when the tone is detected or an audio transducer (e.g., a speaker) that plays an audible tone heard by the technician whenever the inductive amplifier unit detects the tone transmitted by the tone generator.
The inductive amplifier unit may also be used to determine portions of a circuit not conducting the signal. In such applications, the tone generator is used to generate a tone at a first location in the circuit. Then, the inductive amplifier unit is used to determine whether the tone is detectable at a second location in the circuit. If the tone is detectable, the circuit is transmitting the signal through the portion of the circuit located between the tone generator and the inductive amplifier unit. If the tone is not detected, a discontinuity or break in the conductor of the circuit exists between the tone generator and the inductive amplifier unit.
The inductive amplifier unit includes a body portion and a probe tip. The body portion is generally designed to be gripped by the technician during use. The body portion houses an electronic circuit that detects the tone and signals its detection to the technician. Such a circuit is typically referred to as an inductive generator circuit. The body portion may also include one or more batteries used to power the inductive amplifier unit.
The probe tip is placed in physical contact with a portion of the circuit (e.g., a termination point, conductor, and the like) or placed near enough to the circuit to detect the presence of the tone. The probe tip is constructed from a material that is inductive but not conductive. The probe tip is generally elongated and has a distal most portion designed to fit inside the opening of a jack (e.g., an RJ-45 style jack, an RJ-11 style jack, and the like) and be placed adjacent to jack tines therein. Typically, the probe tip has a tapered shape that narrows toward its distal most portion. Some prior art probe tips are generally cone shaped with a rounded (or blunt) distal most portion, or duckbill shaped with a flattened distal most portion.
Raking refers to the passage of the probe tip across the jack tines in a continuous sweeping movement. Raking the probe tip across the jack tines may, however, bend or otherwise damage them. The probe tip must be inserted carefully into the opening of the jack to avoid damaging the jack tines but this requires an increased level of care and slows down the technician's work. The chances one or more jacks will be damaged increases with the number of jacks into which the probe tip is inserted. A typical patch panel includes a plurality of jacks. Therefore, the technician may need to insert the probe tip carefully into more than one jack to determine a termination point of a particular circuit.
Thus, a need exists for methods and devices that reduce the likelihood a technician will damage a jack when inserting a probe tip of an inductive amplifier unit into a jack to test it for the presence of a tone generated by a tone generator coupled to a portion of a circuit. The present application provides these and other advantages as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.